Tulane basketball coach Ed Conroy is putting his plan in motion

The Tulane men's basketball program just a few months ago resembled Ed Conroy's current kitchen. Conroy, who has been the Green Wave's coach for five months, is renovating his house and right now the kitchen is gutted and the floors have to be re-stained.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneTulane coach Ed Conroy says the men's basketball team is a work in progress.

Conroy replaced Dave Dickerson, who resigned, in April. Dickerson's up-tempo scheme was popular with the players, but Conroy is implementing a motion offense. In addition, Conroy, who has spent most of his time on the road recruiting, also had to do a selling job at home.

Before he could install the first play in his offense, Conroy had to bond with his players. For them, it's all new: coach, system and team chemistry.

"(It's) a work in progress, " Conroy said during Thursday's media day press conference. "Hopefully, we're working hard trying to touch all of them. We all come from different backgrounds, so it's never easy, and it's never problem solved. (It's) Jordan Callahan's birthday, and he likes chocolate chip cookies and I discussed that with him this morning, but you're always finding out something different with them and the only way that I think that happens is time. It's no different than being a parent."

Callahan, who turned 20, said Conroy has gone out of his way to accomplish that goal.

"I think he does travel frequently, but I receive a text from him just about every day, " Callahan said. "I think everyone does. He tries to keep in touch, which is good. He'll even call you sometimes, so he's real good on that. He doesn't just leave and not talk to you. He's good at keeping in touch."

Callahan said it's hard not to be excited about the changes. Conroy calls his offense a motion scheme, but it actually presents only pieces of the traditional system. There are no restarts or specific play calls most of the time, only a continuous attacking motion that resembles Princeton's back-door sets. Every player on the floor has an equal chance at shooting the ball on a given possession, and each of them has a set of techniques designed to open up shooting spaces.

Guard Kris Richard walked into Thursday's press conference with a smile but also with a discolored right eye and a scratch to go with it. He was elbowed in the face while playing recently. The players, however, say the system is a thrill and the unit is coming together after a fairly shaky offseason that included some staff changes.

"He likes to start fresh and go forward and with this group of kids, especially the seniors -- I like them a lot by the way -- with this group of seniors, they already have a hard work ethic, and they want to succeed, " freshman Kevin Thomas said. "And every school can't be that No. 1 name-brand school, but he told us last night, there is plenty of room at the top. There's plenty of room for us to go up, and I'm just excited about that."

Conroy was cautious not to fan too many media flames about his team Thursday. He said not only is it impossible to slap expectations on this group, but Conroy also has taken pains to stifle any attempt to do so.

"Dangerous and not allowed, " Conroy said. "I won't let you do it. We have one expectation, and that's really just to get better each day. I've talked to our guys about this already so many different times. It can happen in different ways, it can be media day, or someone trying to pin you down wins and losses or the schedule comes out and everyone wants to (make predictions). If our focus is on anything but our team -- we have so much to learn and so much to get established as far as a culture and the way we talk to each other and the way we go about our business and just our own execution.

"It will always focus more on ourselves than the opponent, but this year more than ever. That's our expectation. We just have to find a way to drive ourselves and pay attention to details and get better each day."

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Tammy Nunez can be reached at tnunez@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3405.